Robert Fiore beat you to that one, Bill. It's a German film released by Benten Films on DVD that I reviewed this past July. Grueling, but well worth the pain, largely to Vogel's avatistic, visceral performance.

Jamie: Look for detailed comments on In Bruges in the upcoming year-end roundup, where I'm sure the movie will hold a place of honor on my list. I did not see it until about a month ago and just have not had time to write about it. (Same old story!) It was wonderful, though, wasn't it? I saw the trailer and built a whole roster of preconceived notions around In Bruges, none of which made me want to see the movie, and almost all of which were happily shot down when I did. Curse of the Modern Movie Trailer, episode #7664 and counting...

I'm so glad In Bruges is getting the accolades it deserves. One question regarding the different "faces" though: although I agree with you on the striking features of Asia Argento, I was really let down by Mother of Tears. Did you see something (besides Asia, of course) in the movie I didn't? Or can you like the face but not the movie?

Geek Monkey (Chris): You can definitely like the face and not the movie (at least in my book). I've always been fascinated by Asia Argento's look, even though I find her neither particularly beautiful nor an actress of much skill. She smolders convincingly, that's for sure, and she's somewhat asymmetrical and, frankly, odd-looking, which I find works for her in photos and in movies. But her persona as a filmmaker-provocateur is just annoying and has resulted in some fairly obvious moves (Scarlet Diva) as well as some fundamentally questionable ones (The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things). As for Mother of Tears, despite how much I enjoyed seeing the Mater in all of her Euro-Maxim Vampirella getups, that was a pretty dumb movie and nowhere near Argento at his best or most entertaining. It just got tiresome, and very quickly; so did Asia in it. So it seems we saw the same movie after all!